Mob Tries to Lynch Teen Who Stole Cell Phone in D.R.

Santiago, Dominican Republic, Jun 15 (EFE). A mob tried to lynch a 14-year-old boy who was returning a cell phone Monday that he had stolen from a student minutes earlier in Santiago, a city in the northern Dominican Republic, police said.

The teenager said the mob grabbed, beat and stabbed him, but National Police officers arrived as people were trying to lynch the boy.

The boy, whose name is not being released because he is a minor, told police he stole the cell phone belonging to Alexandra Emilia Martinez, 18, but decided to return it after learning at the local market that the device was "not worth anything."

When he returned "in good faith" to the scene of the robbery to return the cell phone, the mob tried to kill him, the boy said.

The teenager used a knife approximately 51 centimers (20 inches) long while committing the robbery, police said. EFE

Posted to the site on 15th June 2009